This invention relates to wired glass and in particular to wired glass incorporating decorative wire or wire-like material.
Conventionally wired glass is manufactured by feeding metallic wire mesh into the glass as it passes in a molten state between rollers of a roller system and then allowing the glass to solidify. It is also known from my published international patent application WO 88/06096 to bond two glazing panels, e.g. of glass, together with an interlayer of adhesive binder material and to completely embed metallic wire mesh in the interlayer. In both these cases the wire mesh acts as a reinforcement when the wired glass is struck or, more importantly, when the glass softens when exposed to intense heat, e.g. in a fire. The primary purpose of the wire mesh is to act as reinforcing means and for this reason it is usually constructed of steel wires welded together at their intersections, although other metallic wires, e.g. copper, bronze, zinc, brass or gold, may be employed. In the vast majority of cases, the wires of the conventional wire meshes have a drab appearance.